Dalton System

noun

1. a method of progressive education whereby students contract to carry through on their own responsibility the year's work as divided up into monthly assignments.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Dalton System¹

Named after Dalton, Massachusetts, where it was first used in the high schools

Example Sentences

To some of the militantly progressive parents of Manhattan's prestigious Dalton School, the very word reactionary is anathema, and some of the methods Barr has imposed on the generally permissive Dalton system in his seven years as headmaster have aroused fierce controversy.

From Time Magazine Archive

In practice many a Russian schoolchild has loafed under the Dalton System, was growing up illiterate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Up to now Bolshevik schooling has favored the modernistic "Dalton System," each child being assigned a "problem" and "encouraged" to solve it.

From Time Magazine Archive